Since I posted a glimpse screen shot of my metabolic adaptation story on tuesday, I have received numerous messages/emails asking me How, I recovered. Unfortunately, that is unique to everyone and my story had a few roads, so I will save those details for another day and give you a write up of some of the tools/tricks that I found helpful, and so has my team. #1: Step back from competing, no you dont have to quit. If you are a competitor, understand that your chance at fame, status and glory will not end today because you have decided to take a time out. It will always be there, so please take some time. Take a year, two years, whatever it takes OFF a competition prep, so that you are not sending your body out of homeostasis. #2: Work on eating ALL the foods. Chances are pretty good that if you have dieted long enough, you have some form of digestive stress. Slowly work on intergrating all the foods back into your plan. Fruit, dairy, gluten, and red meat. Over time your digestion will improve as enzyme production kicks back and you will find that you no longer have the same digestive stress as you did before. #3: Eat carbs. I know that you may think that you are carb sensitive, and that you can only handle small amounts of carbs in your diet... but that is because you have only been eating sparse amounts in your diet. #4: Get thorough blood work. I can not begin to tell you how many women struggle with thyroid issues, unbalanced hormones and so on. A great website that I like is stopthethyroidmadness, it dives into thyroid issues, which is something I see a lot of women suffering from after long periods of dieting and/or thyroid hormone abuse. Not to mention regular blood work is a good idea anyhow. #5: If you are exhibiting eating disoder behaviour, please seek out cognitive treatment. Even if you do not have an ED, but you are struggling with depression, anxiety, or other mental health issues... please go talk to someone who is qualified to help you. #6: Back off the cardio train. You do not need to stop cardio, heck, I do a bit too... but if you are a slave to your cardio, and you are gaining weight while you are being diligent with food, chances are your metabolism is downshifting. Add in more metabolism stimulating activty like HIIT, sprint work, metabolic circuits, more weight training etc. A little bit of steady state cardio is ok, daily sessions for weight control are risky. #7: Work on self acceptance. Yep, it sucks, you got here and you maybe did it while following a plan. That plan was wrong for you and left you here, we know this and that sucks. One of the hardest parts for me, was owning up to the fact that, Hey, I chose to follow!. It sounds a bit harsh, but its true. I had a choice to listen or not listen to those alarm bells going off, and I didnt listen. I even knowingly continued on with my prep one year having already heard about metabolic damage. I had to work on forgiving myself for putting my body through it, and not listening to that little voice that said, Maybe this isnt working for me, even though I look amazing. Something working is not just relative to external outcomes. #8: Get a life. This, your body, this period of time is not a reason to shut in. The best thing I did for myself after hibernating the first bad winter, was go out and have some fun. In fact, my body began responding the most, when I started caring the least. The more sad I thought, the more sad I became, and so on... you get the point. #9: Surround yourself with awesome. Get a good coach (one that really gets it), go out and meet new friends, perhaps ones that are not attached to their body image. If you competed, maybe skip the shows and if you find being around competitors makes you feel like yuck, find a new gym. Hang out with family more, and the people that love you no matter what. Ps... as much as you want to talk about how horrible you feel and apparently look, it can be really challenging to listen to someone hate on themselves so much, so please do not get upset with your buddies if they do not want to discuss things all the time. #10: Try to let go of comparing yourself.... to YOU. That stage body, that dress size, that big event you looked a certain way. You know the one that you practically drove yourself into the ground for? thats not real. I read a great post from a fellow coach today (Matt Jensen) and he is talking about putting away the old journals that one uses to compare themselves to when in a prep. Well the same could be said for those clothes you bought a week or two out, that dress you bougth after the HCG diet, journals, or photos that you keep hanging onto. Take your dream body shot off your iphone and put the journals away. There is no future in the past! So there you have it. My top ten, and Im sure I could go on and on. Every single thing here, I have lived and breathed. I do not pretend to know it all, but what I can share with you is my experiene and what has helped some of my clients push past this metabolic hurdle successfully. Be patient and kind with yourselves... that is always going to be key.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Sep 2014 14:39:27 +0000
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